Andrews calls for Md. to cut ICC tolls in half

SILVER SPRING, Md. – Calling the tolls “outrageously high,” Montgomery County Councilmember Phil Andrews wants to see the cost of using the the Inter-County Connector slashed in half to encourage more drivers to use it.

“Traffic levels on the ICC more resemble an airport runway than a major highway,” Andrews wrote in a letter to Darrell Mobley, the acting chairman of the transportation authority.

An end-to-end trip on the 18-mile highway that connects Montgomery and Prince George’s counties costs $8.

Andrews wants to see lower tolls for at least a year.

Andrews, who opposed the construction of the highway, says “the state highly miscalculated the willingness of the public to pay high tolls to use the ICC.”

“Given its $3 billion-plus cost [including debt financing], cutting the tolls in half would be a common sense, and necessary measure to encourage the public to use the highway,” he says, in a news release.

Commuter Mayra Boyle of Silver Spring likes the idea of lower tolls. She says she believes more people would use the ICC if it had lower tolls.